A Palestinian baby girl whose mother was wounded in a botched Israeli air raid was
stillborn on Friday, two days after the strike that killed two other civilians in the Gaza Strip, medics said.

In the Gaza town of Khan Younis, doctors at Nasser Hospital performed a Caesarean section on Shaima Ahmed, 25, after detecting signs of foetal distress after she was wounded by shrapnel in Wednesday's air strike, medics said.

The fetus, due to have been born in the coming days, was found dead, they said. The mother remains in intensive care along with two other children, relatives of the family, who were injured in the attack.

Under Muslim tradition, the dead baby was named before she was buried after dark on Friday.

Soufian Ahmed, the father, said he had named her Majazara, using the Arabic word for "Massacre." He told Reuters he had done so "to tell the world once again about the massacres Israel has committed against innocent Palestinians."

An Israeli army spokeswoman said in response: "There is no doubt that the strike was a failure and we didn't hit our target. We regret it when all innocent people are killed, when it involves children it is even more difficult."

The Israeli army has ordered an investigation into that botched strike and other recent air attacks in which Palestinian civilians have been killed, the spokeswoman said.